Baccarat, along with Roulette, is the simplest table game in

the casino to learn and play. Its simplicity lies in the fact

that the player has only three choices, and all three deal with

the betting; no other playing skill is required. There are two

versions of the game; the American version and the European

version. For the purposes of this article we will concentrate

on the American version of Baccarat.

An eight deck shoe or a six deck shoe is dealt in the American

version of the game. All the numbered cards, 2 through 9, are

counted as face value, with the suits having no relative value.

The ace is counted as 1. Tens and all face cards are counted as

zero, although it will sometimes be referred to as a 10. Any

hand that adds up to more than 9 is counted by the second digit

only. For example, if your hand totals 14, the hand is counted

as 4; likewise, 11 becomes 1. Using this system, the highest

possible score is 9.

Baccarat is a very attractive game to play primarily because it

has a relatively low house advantage. Additionally, it’s

important for you to know that there is a very strict set of

playing rules that have been established and that cannot be

changed by the player or by any actions of the house. In other

words, in Baccarat there are no decisions or options, and no

degree of skill is required to play as either the player or the

banker.

The real objective of Baccarat is to correctly guess which of

the three possible outcomes will come up on the next round. If

you bet the player, the house edge is 1.36 percent; if you bet

the banker, the house advantage is only 1.17 percent; and if

you bet a tie, the house advantage is 14.4 percent. If the

player and dealer hands end in a tie, and if you did not bet a

tie, it’s considered a push (with no win or loss), and no chips

change hands. There are only three actions that can be played in

Baccarat the first is to bet the player, the second being to bet

the banker and finally you could bet a tie. With only these

three choices and the dealer making all the required plays, it

is important for you to concentrate on how much to wager on

each round.